Practice
A messy situation is already in progress. The writer picks a comic engine, orders the beats, and writes the first three to five lines of the scene. The whole exercise is the opening: no resolution is required, and attempting one is usually the mistake.
Every rung of the rubric is published before you write — see how you’re scored. It is not encouraging.
9 of 9
- The Fire Drill Nobody CalledThe alarm went off at 9:15 and everybody left the building.
- The Wrong VanThe van went out this morning with the wrong vinyl on it.
- The Listening ExerciseGAVIN, from regional, is running a listening exercise.
- The Second InvitationSIMONE has been invited to a wedding.
- The Only One Who Can Do ItThe café downstairs has flooded and RUBEN's laptop is in it — with the only copy of eleven months of work, which he has explained is not the same as a backup for reasons that took four minutes.
- The ReferenceSIMONE has applied for a job — a real one, the first she has ever wanted rather than needed — and put NADIA down as a reference without asking.
- The Surprise Party Is In Forty MinutesPAULA has organised a surprise party for RAY's sixty-ninth birthday.
- A Formal RequestMATEO, twelve, has written a letter.
- The Eulogy RehearsalRAY's oldest friend died on Thursday.
Difficulty is provisional — the author’s estimate, not yet confirmed against grading data. It describes the exercise, never you.
The shows
Three original shows, written for this. Every scene is set in one of them, and you are graded on whether the lines belong in that mouth — so the cast is worth reading before you write.